SLEEPING GODS
Fantastic Voyage
Designer: Ryan Laukat | Publisher: Red Raven Games
The sun was beginning to set when Kannan’s sharp eyes spotted the beach, just a small patch of sand bordering jungle. “I think this could be the spot” he said, referring to a tattered map fragment obtained from the trader a few days ago. Captain Sofi Odessa took the glasses and nodded agreement. “Aye, you can see the entrance to the underground cave as well …but who are those folk gathered around the fire?” Rafa came bounding up on deck “lets get the boat launched and set off right away”. “Not so fast young man” grizzled sea dog Laurent joined in from his fishing station, “we need more fish, Mac and Kasumi are still in sick bay following that giant sand squid fight, Audrie’s asleep in the engine room and I’m dead on my feet”.
Welcome to Sleeping Gods; an open-world storybook driven RPG in three acts. Captain Odessa and her likeable crew of 8 have been transported to another world. In order to return home they must help the gods of this world awaken by finding their totems which are hidden throughout the archipelago (75 in all).
Dividing crew members between players (or, much more simply, playing solo and managing them all) you are free to sail and explore absolutely anywhere in the atlas, gradually learning more about this strange world and its inhabitants. You will soon find folk needing help, monsters to slay and puzzles to unravel. Often you will be given broad indications where to travel – a volcanic island to the east for example – and, once there, if the keyword from the quest giver matches the location entry in the storybook you are in the right place.
Of course you never get owt for nowt in any world and as usual with RPGs you will be taking skill tests to overcome difficulties, sometimes with alternative approaches. All crew members with the relevant skill may participate but the downside is that they become fatigued and can only help once more before resting.
The storybook always gives you the negative consequences of failing so you can judge how cautious to be. After totalling crew skills you draw a card from the ability deck to complete the check. Since these ability cards may also be equipped or held in hand the deck can be gradually strengthened during each act – important for the challenging combat encounter at the end of each act. Combat is really ingenious and involves choosing a four member strike team, carefully targeting the most dangerous enemy parts and wisely allocating damage suffered. Ports are havens for rest, healing and repairs. You can also buy useful items, including recipes to keep the ship at sea for longer, and convert experience points into new crew abilities. You only fail if all crew members reach zero health or the ship takes full damage, but this should be rare.
This is a lengthy game – 3 acts of 18 turns each, with an act taking around 4 hours (playing solo), but it can be saved between sessions. The turn sequence is simple – take an action on the ship, resolve an event card and then take two travel or exploration actions. You will need to manage Command (obtained from ship actions) to equip and activate abilities and again that is much simpler in solo mode.
Upon completion you will get one of a number of endings depending on the totems acquired and you can score the campaign, but the real story is there in your annotated world map and in memories of strange and rewarding encounters along the way.