Sleepless Seas
A downloadable game
Forgive me for not having been able to find the words at that terrible moment when you slipped through my fingers.
Sleepless Seas is a roleplaying game for a single player. You portray the thoughts and actions of a lonely insomniac doing the only thing they know how to do: fish.
Inspired by dredge by black salt games, journeylands by dg chapman, and brindlewood bay by jason cordova.
Write your thoughts in a journal, roleplay in your head, dictate your actions to an audience on youtube or twitch, or engage in any other way that play feels natural and fun.
You need a couple six-sided dice, the included location map, and these rules. Printable as a one-page pocketmod zine (folding instructions). Also includes a printable origami envelope to contain the game, (folding instructions).
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You are a lone fisher sailing between a few scattered islands and you cannot sleep. Weird things happen, sometimes at night, and sometimes when the moon changes phase, but all are related to a loss in your past.
Sleepless Sea provides a map for you to explore, each one giving a distance between the islands. The time is tracked in 'Glimmers'. To travel, you need to roll d66 on an encounter table for how many glimmers and resolve each one. Some will give you fish, some will damage your boat.
To fish you roll 2d6. Depending on the result you might gain fish and/or deplete the reserve. You can then take the fish back to the docks and sell it to gain money or other items to help you fish. Each time you fish you also add 1 Glimmer.
The game isn't endless and your progress is tracked by the phases of the moon. Every 7 Glimmers, the moon phase shifts, and something strange happens. You start on the Full Moon and the game ends when you reach the New Moon. My fisherman didn't do to well and was only able to bring 3 fish to the docks to sell. You can read my playthrough HERE
There was also a section on the RTF file I was a little confused about. It's labeled 'Card' and has further instructions for rolling Encounters. It talks about encountering a Visitor or a Creature and comparing the dice value to a 'Card' but doesn't say what or where this card is. This section isn't on the pdf and I don't know if this was cut content or not, but for my playthrough I just ignored it completely.
Sleepless Seas is a haunted solo fishing TTRPG.
The PDF is two pages with a fold across the first page, plus a map. The layout is clean and readable, and the art is black and white with some good photocopier-style graphical noise.
In Sleepless Seas, you are an insomniac fisher plying spooky waters, haunted by a nebulous past.
Gameplay consists primarily of random rolls, with an element of push-your-luck in whether you fully fish out each spot or move to the next spot when your catch starts to decline. You can also trade fish for coins and coins for ship upgrades, but these are both dependent on your base roll for fish.
The atmosphere of Sleepless Seas is excellent and, like The Wretched, this could be a fun game to get into character and stream. The plot is slightly open-ended, but it closes in a gloomy and satisfying way that lingers.
Overall, if you're looking for solo TTRPGs, fishing TTRPGs, or cozy horror, check this out. It's a fun little title.
Minor Issues:
-If your boat takes 3 damage, the text isn't clear if it heals after you come to, or if you have to purchase repairs.
I had a great time sailing the cursed sea full of regret for a life not led.
Wickedly mood-provoking with alluring stark visuals. Just look at that map! that title treatment!
Here's a bit more about my playthrough and a photo of my set-up: https://twitter.com/ValleyOfAlfred/status/1660965262890352641?s=20