The Wildsea
A downloadable tabletop game
Some three hundred years ago the empires of the world were toppled by a wave of fast-growing greenery, a tide of rampant growth spilling from the West. This event, the Verdancy, gave rise to the world you’ll explore as you play - a titanic expanse of rustling waves and sturdy boughs known as the Wildsea.
Now chainsaw-driven ships cut their way across dense treetop waves, their engines powered by oilfruit, ropegolems, honey, and pride. Their crews are a motley, humanity’s weathered descendants rubbing shoulders with cactoid gunslingers, animated wrecks and silkclothed spider-colonies, humanesque slugs with driftwood bones and other, stranger things. Each has a role and a reason to be out on the Wildsea, and it’s their stories - your stories - that this game is designed to tell.
Playing a Game on the Rustling Waves
Your character is a wildsailor, part of a crew cutting their way across the island-studded wilderness of the treetop sea on a vessel of your very own. You’ll clash with survivor cultures and wild beasts, scavenge and salvage for wreckage and trade-goods, chase rumours, and uncover secrets. The focus of this game is on exploration, progress, and change - you’ll define the world of the Wildsea as you sail it.
Adventures on the Wildsea start as hooks, elements of the setting or of a character’s history with the potential to blossom into an arc - a story for you and your crew to experience. While playing through an arc you roleplay scenes, montages, and journeys to make decisions, take actions, and resist your baser impulses. Completed arcs, and the triumphs and disasters within them, will allow you to develop your character as you play.
Decisions are made through the conversation, a collaborative process that keeps all players at the table involved in the outcome of an event. The Wildsea's GM figure, the Firefly, is there to ask the right questions to keep the conversation flowing, as well as to bring the rules into play when necessary.
The Wild Words Engine
Rolls are made using d6 dice pools, quickly assembled from the information you have on your character sheet and the situations your characters find themselves in. Dice rolled in this way help to direct the conversation toward outcomes of triumph, conflict, or disaster. Whatever the result, the story moves forward.
Tracks are used as a visual reference for many aspects of your character, their relationships with various factions and developments in the wider story. Their boxes are marked or cleared by your actions.
You’ll also collect resources, anything from salvage and charts to living secrets and forbidden spices. These resources are tracked on your character sheet, and can be combined or sacrificed for various effects. Their precise uses and qualities are drawn out as your group’s own unique version of the Wildsea develops.
Buying the Game - Digital Copies
Buying the digital version of the Wildsea gives you access to both the single page and double-page spread versions of the game, as well as links to a set of digital resources (standard and fillable ship/character sheets and a quick reference PDF) .
Updates to the resources and core PDF are free - the current core PDF version, 1.1, was added on the 12th of March 2022.
Access the virtual play surface HERE
Join our Discord server HERE
Additional Content
A free teaser for The Wildsea: Storm & Root has been added , currently live on kickstarter!
Quick Credits
Words - Felix Isaacs (support me at patreon.com/felixisaacs if it takes your fancy)
Additional Words - Ric Heise, Ryan Khan, Mistletoe_Kiss, Democritus, Rob Leigh, Seren Briar
Art - Omercan Cirit, Shmeckerel, Pierre Demet, BlueTwoDays, Grumpy Anise, Mon, Heru
Purchase
In order to download this tabletop game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $25 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Exclusive content
Support this tabletop game at or above a special price point to receive something exclusive.
Kickstarter-Funded Community Copy
The first burst of community copies of the core Wildsea PDF and associated digital materials, generously funded by our incredible kickstarter backers.
Because times can be tough, but the wild waves are for everyone!
Kickstarter-Funded Community Copy Giveaway 2!
The second burst of community copies of the core Wildsea PDF and associated digital materials, generously funded by our incredible kickstarter backers.
Because times can be tough, but the wild waves are for everyone!
ENNIE Celebration Community Copy Giveaway 3!
In recognition of our ENnie nomination for Best Writing, we thought it
would be a good time to let more people read... Well, the writing!
This is the third burst of community copies for the Wildsea PDF, covering the core game and associated digital materials. As with previous bursts, this has been generously funded by our amazing kickstarter backers.
Because times can be tough, but the wild waves are for everyone - and also because we have something to celebrate!
If you like what you read and fancy throwing a vote our way for the ENnies, that would be absolutley lovely.
Development log
Comments
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Big congrats for the ENNIE nominee, Felix and team! Well deserved one for Wildsea! I will vote for Wildsea, Fabula Ultima, Rivers of London and Blade Runner RPG!
Thank you Zerodan! I'm celebrating, whether we win or not :)
Hello, any possibility on getting a community copy?
Hey Gundi! We do community copy giveaways every now and then rather than giving them out individually, usually in sets of a hundred, and there's likely to be another one very soon - if you follow me here on itch I think you'll be notified when that happen,s and if you're a part of the discord you'll definitely know! Hope that helps!
Yes, it does. Thank you!
In fact, there's one happening right now!
Just in case you're still wanting :)
Thank you so much for the reminder!
Also just bought this and also very excited to try it out--but I think I found one more inconsistency. The resistance/weakness sidebar on p. 55 says you decrease or increase damage by two boxes, but the rules breakdown on p. 353 says one box (which also seems to jive with the fact that the general description of damage says a 'more effective Damage Type' increases the damage by one box, and the fact that reducing damage by 2 boxes would basically mean resistance for hazards is the same as immunity, since PCs can't really get above 2 damage except with massive impact)
Yes, this is something we realised we'd missed after printing, unfortunately - two rules from two different stages of the game's playtesting phases. For the best experience, treat resistances on hazarda as decreasing the marks they take by one, and resistances on CHARACTERS as decreasing the marks by two. This relfects that, as you say, it's difficult for characters to deal more than one or two marks of damage, but hazards can throw that out far more easily.
It'll be corrected in PDF next time we do a release, and in print if we ever get the chance to do a version two :)
Funnily enough, I found that discrepancy because I was sure there had to be a rule somewhere that said hazards calculate weakness and resistance differently for exactly that reason, and that I must have missed it on my first read. Glad to know my instincts were right! :D Thanks for confirming!
Bought the pdf a few days ago, and I can't wait to bring this to the table. Is there a good place to send typos to, though? I just noticed a reference to a skill that doesn't exist (maybe a playtest name)
Oh, thank you! I thought I'd caught all of those :P
You can drop it here and I'll get it sorted and corrected for the next PDF update
Ah, nice!
There's a reference to the 'Scrutinize' skill on 92 (old name for Study?)
And a misalignment of bullet points on 172
Correct on both counts!
whoops, didn't mean this to be a reply
Can you explain the difference between the digital version offered here for $25, and the "digital deluxe" version offered through Mythworks for $35?
Hey Mark! I don't know exactly (as I'm not privy to exactly what mythopoeia offers in addition to the PDF), but I do know that the actual PDFs themselves are identical. Itch is my own digital storefront, which I control the prices of myself - I dropped it a while back in recognition of being out for a year, so it may just be that they haven't mirrored the price drop on their webstore. Regardless, I've messaged the publisher about it and they're taking a look - they may well drop the price on their end too. Thanks for the heads-up!
Is there a possibility you'll ever allow other creators to make and sell games using the Wild Words engine?
Oh, completely! Working on the SRD for the Wild Words engine as wek speak, hopefully to be out VERY soon, and also a license option for stuff using the actual Wildsea as a setting itself (different thing to the SRD, though they do of course link together pretty well!)
oh amazing! The Wildsea is one of the more wildly imaginative settings I've seen in a long time. I've been working on a pbta build for a setting I've written stories in for years -- a fantasy setting imagined more akin to the late 19th century America and mexico instead of the bog standard medieval style fantasy. Though the deeper I get into the project the less sure I am the system is a good fit.
Is Wildsea FITD based?
Hey Crestwork - it's not, but it shares enugh DNA from similar influences that it's appeared on Forged In The Dark-related podcasts and such, and quite a few players I speak to liken it to a kind of journey-based Blades. And Im flattered by the comparison, so I don't mind! The only direct FITD influence is the dice spread, the 6/54/321 results.
OK thank you!
any chance we could get a higher quality Quick Reference sheet? the one downloaded seems like a JPG saved as a PDF, instead of digital with highlightable text.
I can ask the publisher on that one and see what I can do :)
awesome, thank you. i was going to say the same for the Character Sheets, but it seems that that is only the individual pdfs... the 'fillable' pdfs are are crystal clear, good looking.
100% recommend.
This is one of the RPGs I frequently turn to for inspiration. It takes a familiar action resolution roll (from Blades in the Dark) and extends it to... basically everything. I especially love how travel and exploration are emphasised, it's often overlooked outside of OSR-like games and Wildsea shows how to do it in a more narrative-oriented system, providing enough mechanical crunch without bogging gameplay down.
The vibe of the setting is like a jungle version of Sunless Sea/Skies, and it has the two of my all-time fave character species: Ektus (beefy cacti) and Mothryn (raggedy moths). Absolutely packed to the brim with amazing landscape and character art.
Lots of GM and player advice, too, which I can see being taken into any RPG. How to think about scenes and montages, how to participate in conflicts even if you're not a typical fight-y character, etc. Even has a section on how to play solo/GM-less, which is a big plus for anyone looking to play Forged in the Dark games that way.
I've been wanting a paper copy ever since its crowdfunding campaign, and if the stars align this year, perhaps I'll finally be able to have it on my shelf!
Thank you so much for this review. I have the biggest smile on my face right now. :)
Is it still possible to purchase an offset print copy of Wildsea?
Yep, Mythopoeia still handles all of the physical stuff that's Wildsea related - you can find their store at https://www.mythopoeia.us/store/c1/myth-store. Hope that helps!
Much obliged!
I've been gaming for nearly 40 years and I've seen and played a lot, too many🤔, of games. It's rare when something surprises me with it's originally but Wildsea certainly qualifies. This game combines a unique setting with narrative focused mechanics, fans of Forged in the Dark games will take to this system like ducks to water while still having unique mechanics to realise their stories . Highly recommended, though the colonies of sentient spiders as PCs is not good for my arachnophobia 😰
Aww, thank you! That's really lovely to hear. And one of my favourite tzelicrae characters was made of bees, so you can avoid it that way if spiders aren't your thing! :P
Hi Felix, this game was recommended to me by Rob, Leigh of Isolation Games during a playtest. I nabbed a physical copy but wondered if, like Fezmic, I could appeal to your good nature for a pdf copy. Either way thanks for a great game.
Of course! Send me an e-mail at felixisaacs@thewildsea.co.uk and I'll give you the whole digital suite vis secret link :)
Hi Felix! I bought a physical copy at my FLGS. Is there a way I can request for a pdf copy as well?
Of course! Send me a message at felixisaacs@thewildsea.co.uk and I'll throw a secret link your way :)
Hi! I have a quick rules question that I couldn't find an answer to in the book. I have a PC in my group who has 2 total dice for a Vault roll, and because of an Injury they received in an earlier conflict, and the unstable environment they are in, they would need to Cut 2 results from their roll. Since the Cut and the total dice in the pool are equal, what happens? Do they make a roll at all?
they do indeed - I'm away from the book at the moment so I can't remember the exact page, but they roll 1d6 and treat a triumph as a conflict :)
Thanks for the quick answer! That makes sense to me.
This is one of those games that gets a huge amount of points from me based off aesthetics alone. I'm more into lore than mechanics, and I love the whole Wildsea concept.
Amazing worldbuilding and incredible artwork to go with, especially in helping me visualise what the rest of the world would look like. Thank you for this game.
Big congratulations on the release, Felix and team. The arts are beautiful and the world is intruiging. I really enjoy reading my copy.
The worldbuilding is stellar, Felix and team. I love it so much. I will play it with my friends as soon as i can!
Thank you so much for your hard work, Felix and team!
By far one of the most addicting TTRPGs out there. If your looking for a one of a kind fringe game with super dynamics and an enveloping theme jump on into the lignin tide! Its narrative based game putting the focus enjoyable mechanics with unique item qualities, character traits and ultra mega kickin chainsaw ships that shred the waves like no other games business! Some times i think about quitting my real life, take my phone, live on the streets and steal fast food joints' wi-fi all just to play The Wildsea on its discord channel! Also don't forget about its epic soundtraCK!
Oh my gods, Felix, this book has come out AMAAAAZING!!! What a beautiful and fascinating work of absolute art you have created! Thanks so much for sharing this with us all!
Aww, thank you so much! I'm really glad you're enjoying it.
WOOHOOO! Congrats on the release!
Thanks Quirky!
How exciting! 🧡🧡
I know, right? :D