
There are a few different tracks to handle your ship’s resources and pirate infamy.įor the mechanics, they work well even if they tend to take a back seat to the story. It manages to drive the story forward at a solid pace with our players never getting bored. The writing is great for a board game and will keep you wondering what’s going to happen next. I loved how every encounter and narrative has a voice actor read the text for you, which really helped bring the immersion home. This is in no small part due to the writing and the fantastic voice acting. The game manages to draw you in quickly with its story and keep you entertained for most of its lengthy playtime. When it comes to the actual experience of playing Forgotten Waters, I was really impressed. Actions are handled via a worker placement system and skill checks. Once you hit the end of the story, players will check how many constellations branches they’ve completed and read the appropriate ending on their character sheet. Players will continue planning and taking actions as they sail around the ocean, having adventures, meeting new characters, and unfolding the story. The more circles you can fill in, the better pirate you are! You need to complete enough branches on your constellation by the end of the game to get the best ending for your pirate. Treasure cards will give you special powers or can be buried for glory.Īt certain points in the game, you’ll be able to fill in a circle on your player constellation. The game will even sometimes have ranges, so not every check is an all or nothing affair. To perform a check, roll a 12-sided die and add a bonus for each box of that skill you’ve checked off, as well as any provided from treasure or story cards. Most actions involve a skill check (there are six skills in the game). Once every player has chosen an action, they are resolved in player infamy order. Players should not look at the details of the actions during this phase (we covered up that half of the book with a sheet of paper during the planning). Each space will show how many pirates it can accommodate and what kind of event you should expect to have there. The planning phase will have players selecting their actions, worker placement style, in a timed period.

There are a ton of unique characters to try out. After you enter a few words Mad Libs style onto your sheet, you’re ready to set sail.Įach round of Forgotten Waters takes place over three phases. Each player will control a unique pirate from a stack of fillable sheets.
PIRATE WATERS GAME FREE
Once you’ve selected a scenario using the free web app, the game will walk you through any setup needed. The rulebook for Forgotten Waters is all of 4 pages, so learning to play is pretty simple. So, strap on your peg leg, eye patch, and cutlass as get ready to shiver our timbers. Say hello to Forgotten Waters, a cooperative game of wooden sailing ships and adventure on the open seas. But now, the crossroads system has not only taken off into a new and interesting direction, but it’s been excellently wrapped into a pirate theme (one of my favorites). Their second iteration of it, Gen7, turned out to be a flop in eyes of our BGQ reviewer.

It was a clever mechanic that helped bring players into the narrative of the game with events tailored to things happening during the game.


Ever since publisher Plaid Hat Games released Dead of Winter in 2014, I’ve been curious to see where they could take their Crossroads system.
