Welcome!

Welcome to the Wildsea

What is the Wildsea?

The Wildsea is a narrative-focused, rules-lite roleplaying game based on a simple D6 pool system set in the canopy of a post-apocalyptic world forest with strong solarpunk and steampunk elements. You play as the crew of a chain-saw driven ship 'sailing' the treetops of a strange world in search of adventure, profit, and knowledge. For a video-based overview of the game, check out Quinn's Quest's review.

What are we looking for?

We are looking for 1–2 players to join the crew of an existing ship, the Argos, who can post at least twice a week (with GM updates also occurring at least twice a week). No familiarity with the setting or rules is necessary; a free quickstart version of the rules can be found here, the game is designed to help you learn as you go, and you are free to ask any questions you want about the setting or system.

The Setting

Three hundred years ago, the world began anew as the empires of the old world were consumed by a tide of colossal greenery that, almost overnight, covered everything in a mile-high forest. The survivors of this Verdancy now thrive in the treetops of the resulting world forest, living in settlements and ports built on chunks of stone and earth dragged up by the rapidly growing trees, on mountaintops poking above the leaves, and on the ruins of ancient structures unearthed by the constantly shifting branches of the canopy.

Between these ports, ships running on chainsaws, crawling legs, and flexing scales and powered by sunlight, oilfruit, rope golems, and dreams carry post, cargo, and passengers. The people of the wildsea are diverse, ranging from gunslinging humans to cutlass-wielding mothryn, from masterful fungal chefs to chittering silk-clad arachnid hiveminds, from powerful spined cactoids to slug-like scholars, and from mantid hunters to living shipwrecks.

The dangers of the green sea are equally diverse, as are its wonders: pre-Verdancy ruins wrenched to the surface by powerful rootquakes, roving packs of carnivorous plants, swarms of voice-stealing bees, powerful spirits, vicious pirates, living storms, colossal squirrels, toxic sap, mischievous monkeys, and more.

The setting combines steampunk, dieselpunk, solarpunk, horror, and absurdism, and was inspired by other settings including Fallen London/Sunless Sea, Bastion, and the Bas-Lag Trilogy.

The Mechanics

The game uses a simple D6 pool system, with the size of the pool defined by your character's skill and a situational edge. The highest number rolled defines the result, with a 6 indicating success, a 5–6 a mixed success, and a 1–3 a failure (and doubles marking a twist). Player input into the results of tests, both failed and successful, is highly encouraged. Characters are primarily defined by their aspects, which are special abilities that provide opportunities to bend the rules and also serve as hitpoints. Progress in the game (including health) is managed through the use of tracks, which are filled or cleared depending on player actions. The mechanics draw inspiration from games like Belly of the Beast, Blades in the Dark, and 13th Age, and focus on narrative rather than crunch.

The Campaign

Every fifty years, in the treetops of the reach known as the Florid Sepulcher, a titanic carnivorous flower blossoms, pushing its way up through the tangle and thrash from a source deep in the Darkness-Under-Eaves: the Tyrant's Bloom. The legends that surround this flower are myriad, but all agree that it will grant immense power to those who find and tame it. Recently, a terrible rootquake shook the Sepulcher as the mile-high treetops that its inhabitants call home rearranged themselves in the first sign of the Blooming: the Shudder. From all across the reach, and from places far distant, hopeful explorers are gathering to claim the prize for themselves, their motives as varied as the legends surrounding their prize. You are one of these explorers, come from either near or far, and you need to find a crew—one that you can trust and that won't leave you for dead on the rustling waves or steal the Bloom all for themselves—and acquire a ship to take you across the Wildsea.

Applying

To apply, simply head over to the Applications tab and read the narrative-based Character Creation post for the Argos (labeled 'Start Here'). Make a new post in that forum using the provided template, and feel free to ask any questions you want in the Character Creation OOC and Questions thread, or by directly messaging Morkskittar. Admission to this game is not competitive; while it is not strictly first-come-first-served, so long as the application is of sufficient quality, applications will be prioritized based on the time of completed posting.