Sea of Legends
GUILDHALL STUDIOS • CREATIVE DIRECTION, BRANCHING NARRATIVE
SEA OF LEGENDS WRITING SAMPLES
Sea of Legends is a narrative-driven sandbox game that raised over a half-million dollars on Kickstarter. Set in an alternate history, the Caribbean teems with strange creatures and myths come to life. At the table, players build and manage a tableau of cards, including crew, relics, lovers, and nemeses. Through the course of the game, these pirate captains will navigate around a map full of minis, as alliances shift between the factions and players.
In the Sea of Legends app, players explore the world in a series of bespoke and modular narrative arcs. Our app tracks and responds to player choices, introducing new challenges and adventures for each player at the table creating an interconnected web of stories.
The Odd Pair
Dressed in “borrowed” uniforms, you and your first mate slip into a Spanish garrison. You head toward their makeshift jail, hoping to find confiscated goods.
From the cells, a sullen priest cries out, "Save me! I’ll make you a king!”
A frustrated fishman calls out from the next cell, “You can’t trust that corpsebreath. Let me out and the sea will be yours to command!”
Option 1: Breakout the sullen priest.
As you pick the lock, your first mate whispers: “You’re not one of those necro… necro-romanctics, are you?”
The priest coughs. “Please, call me Father Antonio. You speak of necromancy, a forbidden art… but one that you could benefit greatly from.” The cell door swings open as the lock breaks. “You are marked for greatness… oh, Chosen One. I’ll show you.”
RESULTS: Gain the Father Antonio Crew Card and a Spanish Uniform Card. Place your Adventure Marker on Skull Point.
Option 2: Breakout frustrated fishman.
“You’re one of them mermans, I mean merfolk!? Descendants of ancient gods and all that hoo-haw?” your first mate exclaims as you pick the lock. The cell door swings open as the lock breaks.
“Call me Tenoch. And it’s not hoo-haw. I’ll show you. Take me to the Mouth of Tlaloc. Our kind and yours was once united, airbreather.”
RESULTS: Gain the Tenoch Crew Card and a Spanish Uniform Card. Place your Adventure Marker on Cartagena.
PART 2: A Sacrifice is Required
You and your crew follow Father Antonio into a ruined temple deep within the jungle. Inside, he gestures to a crumbling fountain. “First, a sacrifice is required to awaken your army, Chosen One. You must relinquish your worldly desires.” The priest unsheathes a dagger. “What is most precious to you? Your crew… or your gold?”
Option 1: Push a crewmember forward. (-1 Crew)
Option 1: Push a crewmember forward. (-1 Crew)
The crewmember stumbles forward. “Uh… I don’t know cap’n.” Father Antonio takes them by the hand. “It shall not hurt, my child.” The dagger flashes and blood splatters across the fountain as they slump forward. The temple rumbles as mangled corpses rise from their graves. Father Antonio smiles, holding out the dagger. “Take it. The last rite awaits.”
RESULT: Gain the Auspice of Eternity card. Place an Undead Soldier on this region. Place your Adventure Marker on Smuggler’s Cove.
Option 2: Hold out your coin purse. (-5 Gold)
You step forward, holding out the coin purse. Father Antonio slices it open and the coins spill out, clinking against the fountain. The temple rumbles as mangled corpses rise from their graves. “Do not fear, Chosen One… in time they will obey you.” Father Antonio smiles, holding out the dagger. “Take it. The last rite awaits.”
RESULT: Gain the Auspice of Eternity card. Place an Undead Soldier on this region. Move your Adventure Marker to Tortuga.
Option 3: Ignore the priest and start filling your pockets.
The priest raises his dagger in anger as you scoop up a handful of ancient coins. Mangled corpses rise, raising rusted swords. “This isn’t over, Chosen One. You will face me in Havana or you’ll be cursed for eternity!” A red mark burns in your flesh as you flee.
RESULT: +1 Notoriety. +5 Gold. Discard the Father Antonio crew card. Gain the Cursed Mark card. Move your Adventure Marker to Havana.
PART 2: The Flooded Temple
Tenoch gives you a tour of a flooded temple. He gestures to a vast chamber. “... and this is where I was spawned.” Before he can tell you more, a cannonball smashes through a nearby wall. You scramble through the smoke and rubble, but you can’t find Tenoch. Instead you spot the tattered sails of a Dread Tide ship near shore.
Option 1: Keep hunting for Tenoch. (Challenge 6)
(SUCCESS) You spot Tenoch on the beach below, injured and surrounded by the undead. Flinging yourself from the ruined temple, you crash land on top of the skeletal soldiers. With the advantage of surprise, you dispatch them easily and hoist Tenoch into your arms. He rests his scaly head against your chest. “My hero… is human?” He stammers. “You must meet the Greatfins.”
RESULT: +4 Gold. +1 Notoriety. Place a Children of Tlaloc Fort token on this region and move your Adventure Marker to Claw Bay.
(FAILURE) Tenoch lays sprawled on the beach below, surrounded by the undead. Without thinking, you jump down, smashing into the skeletal soldiers. For each undead you defeat, two more fill their ranks. The horde is endless. You hoist Tenoch into your arms and run. Tears well at the corner of his eyes. “We’ll have to find a new temple… a new home.”
RESULT: Gain the Rusted Sword relic card. Place a Dread Tide Fort token on this region. Move your Adventure Marker to Thieves Landing.
Option 2: Escape before the Dread Tide storm the temple.
You flee into the spawning chamber. The temple shakes as another barrage of cannonfire pummels the ancient stonework. Stone and dust rains from above, but an intricate mask falls at your feet. You take it and run through the maze-like structure until you emerge in the jungle. Behind you, the temple crumbles and the merfolk flee toward Havana.
RESULT: Gain the Mask of Revelry relic card. Discard the Tenoch crew card. Place a Dread Tide Fort token on this region. Move your Adventure Marker to Havana.
LEARN MORE
Take a deeper look at my work on Sea of Legends, follow the link below.