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The Wildsea
A tabletop role-playing game by Quillhound Studios for 3-6 players inspired by stories like Sunless Sea, Bastion, and the Bas-Lag Trilogy. Set in a post-fall world overrun by greenery, The Wildsea uses a narrative, fiction-first d6 dice pool system that draws inspiration from games like Belly of the Beast, Blades in the Dark, and 13th Age.
368 pages, ebook
Published January 1, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 26, 2024
The Wildsea is a very creative setting. There is a lot of variety, openness for strange ideas and room to allow players and game masters (or Fireflies, as they are called in this system) to flex their creative muscles. It’s a setting where the world has been taken over by rampaging tree and foliage growth. Mile high trees create a woodland ocean where ships traverse the canopies with chainsaws and other mechanisms. The trees rapidly grow, so any damage is quickly re-grown. Ports are scattered on high mountain tops or relatively stable old growth. The tree “ocean” is separated into different depths, each with its unique dangers, denizens, and treasures. Fortune and fame can be found by those willing to brave the descent to the lower levels where artifacts from the civilizations before the growth can be found. I stumbled upon The Wildsea when an actual play for it came into my YouTube feed. I was intrigued.
The game rules are very similar to Blades in the Dark (and it even mentions inspiration from that game system). Contrary to Blades in the Dark, I found the presentation of the rules better in this system; they were much easier to understand. The game uses a D6 dice pool system where you are looking for 4, 5 and 6s to succeed but passing with 4s or 5s will succeed with “drawback” and 1, 2, and 3s will fail with a resulting drawback or complication. Doubles will add a twist. There are also additional game mechanics, such as “cut” or impact” to affect the die roll. That is the basic gist of the game mechanics (you can find many rules breakdowns online if you want to know more). Despite the interesting setting and familiar style of game mechanics, there were several game mechanics that were not my cup of tea. I also really had an issue with how problematic “fire” is portrayed in the setting.
Starting with the “fire” issue, the book describes how fire is such a danger in the setting because of the abundance of wood (of course there is because there are wood oceans) and a toxic component in ironwoods, known as “Crezzerin,” make the trees highly flammable but the wood also grows quickly and so the fire can ever burn and spread. Many ships do not use fire-burning power sources and fire is forbidden in many settlements; it’s so deadly that fire isn’t even used for cooking. There is mention of a great ever-burning fire that is being held at bay by some of the masses to keep it contained. So, what’s my problem with this? Well, lightning for starters. I live in a state where there are many fires every year from lightning strikes and while it’s not Wildsea-level of forest, there is plenty of forest to burn. Next, we know that lightning is a thing in this setting because it even describes lightning as one of the exotic ways to cook food (since fire is banned because it’s so dangerous). I think you understand my hang-up with the fire presentation. It reminds me of the Polaris RPG where clean water is a rarity; they have underwater cities and can put ships into space but cannot come up with decent technology to clean water on a consistent basis.
Player characters. There are a variety of player character Bloodlines (races) to choose from, seven that range from Ardents (humans) to more exotic types, such as Gau (mushroom folk) and Ironbound (sentient golem-like constructs) to name only a few. There are Origin types to choose from representing a character’s upbringing and there are “Posts,” which are similar to a character class in traditional RPGs. Characters are made by choosing one of each of these aspects and each has a set of options to choose from to represent different powers, traits, etc. This is one of my complaints about the system. Despite having all this variety, the various options available from these three aspects (Bloodline, Origin and Post) can produce characters with the same mechanical bonuses and abilities that are unique only in their aesthetic portrayal. I am not saying that every combination offers the exact same options, but the range of options is pretty broad. I just wish there was more differentiation (game mechanics-wise) to separate the various Bloodlines, Origins and Posts.
This is a collaborative-style story game and offers a lot of wiggle room to decide on outcomes (bad and good) to create tension, excitement, etc. to enhance the play experience. Some people like this style of play and some don’t; I lean toward being the latter. I am not saying one way is better than the other, everyone has their individual preferences for what they expect to get out of an RPG. I (and people I tend to play with) enjoy RPGs with a more definite set of game rules. In The Wildsea, the rules state that your character can’t die unless it is agreed upon because it enhances the story. Bad (and good) things can happen, but these are arbitrarily decided upon (consistent with the situation) but if your group is adversarial or has members that are looking for the opportunity to twist outcomes in their favor (or downplay consequences), I find these kinds of systems support that behavior because the game mechanics are not as defined, and the game master is hesitant to dole out a complication that might be perceived as too harsh, and if they do, this creates complications within the player group.
The Twists, Complications, etc. that come up from dice rolls can become fatiguing after a while. I’ve played the Fantasy Flight (now owned by Edge) Star Wars and Legend of the Five Rings (5th ed.) with narrative dice and the concept is interesting and does offer some narrative opportunities, but after a while, with some exceptions, we basically defaulted to the same options to expedite game play.
I would like to talk about “Tracks.” Tracks are basically a countdown mechanism. Blades in the Dark uses “Clocks” and some other systems use “Degrees of Success.” They all serve the same role, though the Tracks (and Clocks) offer a nice visual method. I feel like a lot of these are just gimmicky ways of saying the same rule mechanic.
In closing, The Wildsea is unique and interesting, but I would have to make some lore adjustments and maybe use some different mechanics to make it into a game I would be interested in playing.
The game rules are very similar to Blades in the Dark (and it even mentions inspiration from that game system). Contrary to Blades in the Dark, I found the presentation of the rules better in this system; they were much easier to understand. The game uses a D6 dice pool system where you are looking for 4, 5 and 6s to succeed but passing with 4s or 5s will succeed with “drawback” and 1, 2, and 3s will fail with a resulting drawback or complication. Doubles will add a twist. There are also additional game mechanics, such as “cut” or impact” to affect the die roll. That is the basic gist of the game mechanics (you can find many rules breakdowns online if you want to know more). Despite the interesting setting and familiar style of game mechanics, there were several game mechanics that were not my cup of tea. I also really had an issue with how problematic “fire” is portrayed in the setting.
Starting with the “fire” issue, the book describes how fire is such a danger in the setting because of the abundance of wood (of course there is because there are wood oceans) and a toxic component in ironwoods, known as “Crezzerin,” make the trees highly flammable but the wood also grows quickly and so the fire can ever burn and spread. Many ships do not use fire-burning power sources and fire is forbidden in many settlements; it’s so deadly that fire isn’t even used for cooking. There is mention of a great ever-burning fire that is being held at bay by some of the masses to keep it contained. So, what’s my problem with this? Well, lightning for starters. I live in a state where there are many fires every year from lightning strikes and while it’s not Wildsea-level of forest, there is plenty of forest to burn. Next, we know that lightning is a thing in this setting because it even describes lightning as one of the exotic ways to cook food (since fire is banned because it’s so dangerous). I think you understand my hang-up with the fire presentation. It reminds me of the Polaris RPG where clean water is a rarity; they have underwater cities and can put ships into space but cannot come up with decent technology to clean water on a consistent basis.
Player characters. There are a variety of player character Bloodlines (races) to choose from, seven that range from Ardents (humans) to more exotic types, such as Gau (mushroom folk) and Ironbound (sentient golem-like constructs) to name only a few. There are Origin types to choose from representing a character’s upbringing and there are “Posts,” which are similar to a character class in traditional RPGs. Characters are made by choosing one of each of these aspects and each has a set of options to choose from to represent different powers, traits, etc. This is one of my complaints about the system. Despite having all this variety, the various options available from these three aspects (Bloodline, Origin and Post) can produce characters with the same mechanical bonuses and abilities that are unique only in their aesthetic portrayal. I am not saying that every combination offers the exact same options, but the range of options is pretty broad. I just wish there was more differentiation (game mechanics-wise) to separate the various Bloodlines, Origins and Posts.
This is a collaborative-style story game and offers a lot of wiggle room to decide on outcomes (bad and good) to create tension, excitement, etc. to enhance the play experience. Some people like this style of play and some don’t; I lean toward being the latter. I am not saying one way is better than the other, everyone has their individual preferences for what they expect to get out of an RPG. I (and people I tend to play with) enjoy RPGs with a more definite set of game rules. In The Wildsea, the rules state that your character can’t die unless it is agreed upon because it enhances the story. Bad (and good) things can happen, but these are arbitrarily decided upon (consistent with the situation) but if your group is adversarial or has members that are looking for the opportunity to twist outcomes in their favor (or downplay consequences), I find these kinds of systems support that behavior because the game mechanics are not as defined, and the game master is hesitant to dole out a complication that might be perceived as too harsh, and if they do, this creates complications within the player group.
The Twists, Complications, etc. that come up from dice rolls can become fatiguing after a while. I’ve played the Fantasy Flight (now owned by Edge) Star Wars and Legend of the Five Rings (5th ed.) with narrative dice and the concept is interesting and does offer some narrative opportunities, but after a while, with some exceptions, we basically defaulted to the same options to expedite game play.
I would like to talk about “Tracks.” Tracks are basically a countdown mechanism. Blades in the Dark uses “Clocks” and some other systems use “Degrees of Success.” They all serve the same role, though the Tracks (and Clocks) offer a nice visual method. I feel like a lot of these are just gimmicky ways of saying the same rule mechanic.
In closing, The Wildsea is unique and interesting, but I would have to make some lore adjustments and maybe use some different mechanics to make it into a game I would be interested in playing.
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September 10, 2025A review of
- the core
- Storm and Root expansion
- One-Armed Scissor and Red Right Hand adventures
- Garden-ships expansion
How? Remember when I bought that set of Call of Cthulhu books off of a guy and then sold most of them? Well, I also bought this, largely because the art was intriguing and I'm a sucker for a collection.
What? Here's the premise: hundreds of years ago, forests sprung up, gigantic trees, toppling all the old empires and almost destroying humanity. Now, you -- human, moth person, spider colony, cactus person, automaton person, etc. -- are some of the survivors trying to make do in a world with monstrously mutated animals, lack of arable land, and the ever present danger of fire. You crew a ship that sails on top of the trees and go out exploring, helped by your crew and your array of weird fantastical magics. But you have to be careful, because under the tree canopy, giant leviathan monsters lurk and sometimes surface.
Storm & Root expands on sky stuff and under the canopy stuff; the Ship-Gardens gives some rules for building a ship that's also a garden; One-Armed Scissor sees the PCs going out to look for a missing library ship, while Red Right Hand has the PCs get involved in a mad scientist breeding genetic oddities.
Yeah, so? I'm going to be honest: I flipped through the books, put them on my "to sell" shelf, and then moved them back to my hold shelf -- for now. There's a lot here to like, so I'll start the things I don't like:
There's so much weirdness and fantastical about the world that I find myself checking out. Now: that might be because of how I read the books, and that I would feel the strangeness more keenly if I were playing and we focused on slowly encountering something weird and building it up -- and the book really does push a collaborative storytelling style. But on the other hand: I'm a little worn out by how every single thing is weird: every character choice has something that is weird... or maybe not weird, but twee.
The game system involves building a character through attributes like sharps, graces, tide -- ways to do things or big areas of action. Then there's the occasionally broad skills (outwit, vault, break, etc.). Then there's the mires, which are (more or less) bad habits or personality traits that hold you back. And... it's fine, but I almost rather have something even more lightweight, like Over the Edge or something like "I am a __ ___ who ___". Damage in the game isn't against some abstract like HP, but against some of your traits, which have a certain number of hits you can take before going away.
All of which is fine, I guess, and I'm sure I'd get used to it, but it all seems a little strange. Maybe that's a bit of the point?
Now the stuff I like that hasn't come up yet:
- building a ship with a number of points from the PCs; the ship comes complete with NPCs (also bought with points)
- the focus on exploration
- the cobbling together parts of other games that work, like using tracks/clocks to mark progress
- the core
- Storm and Root expansion
- One-Armed Scissor and Red Right Hand adventures
- Garden-ships expansion
How? Remember when I bought that set of Call of Cthulhu books off of a guy and then sold most of them? Well, I also bought this, largely because the art was intriguing and I'm a sucker for a collection.
What? Here's the premise: hundreds of years ago, forests sprung up, gigantic trees, toppling all the old empires and almost destroying humanity. Now, you -- human, moth person, spider colony, cactus person, automaton person, etc. -- are some of the survivors trying to make do in a world with monstrously mutated animals, lack of arable land, and the ever present danger of fire. You crew a ship that sails on top of the trees and go out exploring, helped by your crew and your array of weird fantastical magics. But you have to be careful, because under the tree canopy, giant leviathan monsters lurk and sometimes surface.
Storm & Root expands on sky stuff and under the canopy stuff; the Ship-Gardens gives some rules for building a ship that's also a garden; One-Armed Scissor sees the PCs going out to look for a missing library ship, while Red Right Hand has the PCs get involved in a mad scientist breeding genetic oddities.
Yeah, so? I'm going to be honest: I flipped through the books, put them on my "to sell" shelf, and then moved them back to my hold shelf -- for now. There's a lot here to like, so I'll start the things I don't like:
There's so much weirdness and fantastical about the world that I find myself checking out. Now: that might be because of how I read the books, and that I would feel the strangeness more keenly if I were playing and we focused on slowly encountering something weird and building it up -- and the book really does push a collaborative storytelling style. But on the other hand: I'm a little worn out by how every single thing is weird: every character choice has something that is weird... or maybe not weird, but twee.
The game system involves building a character through attributes like sharps, graces, tide -- ways to do things or big areas of action. Then there's the occasionally broad skills (outwit, vault, break, etc.). Then there's the mires, which are (more or less) bad habits or personality traits that hold you back. And... it's fine, but I almost rather have something even more lightweight, like Over the Edge or something like "I am a __ ___ who ___". Damage in the game isn't against some abstract like HP, but against some of your traits, which have a certain number of hits you can take before going away.
All of which is fine, I guess, and I'm sure I'd get used to it, but it all seems a little strange. Maybe that's a bit of the point?
Now the stuff I like that hasn't come up yet:
- building a ship with a number of points from the PCs; the ship comes complete with NPCs (also bought with points)
- the focus on exploration
- the cobbling together parts of other games that work, like using tracks/clocks to mark progress
February 2, 2025
Can't wait to run a campaign in this world. So many fun interesting ideas. It runs the whole range from wondrous to horrifying.
Especially love how the book encourages you to pick and choose aspects of the world you want to include. The alternate presentations in the character creation section really encourages players to make their character their own.
It is certainly more rules light than settings I have played in the past but that's not a critique of the book just something to note
All in all I'm really looking forward to spending some time exploring this world :)
Especially love how the book encourages you to pick and choose aspects of the world you want to include. The alternate presentations in the character creation section really encourages players to make their character their own.
It is certainly more rules light than settings I have played in the past but that's not a critique of the book just something to note
All in all I'm really looking forward to spending some time exploring this world :)
October 30, 2025
The Wildsea is a tough nut to describe.
I guess “Tree-punk, a post-apocalyptic world where nature won, and what remains of sentient life has to adapt. Water World meets Treasure Planet meets Attenborough’s Planet Earth but on psychedelics.”
Felix Isaacs’s spin on a more collaborative and story-driven ttrpg is a fresh take on the genre for those of us only familiar with the 5E system, and we will have many habits to unlearn to encompass what Felix Isaacs set out to accomplish truly. The Wildsea plays on the rule of cool but on overdrive. Much of the decision-making that 5E dictates is up to the DM, is in Wilds left open to the table, with the Firefly (Wildsea’s name for a GM) to make it cohesive. This task, I imagine, is surprisingly simpler than it sounds, as the agent that has caused the plant life to grow like crazy has turned the rest of the world crazy with it.
The Wildsea can probably conjure it if you can think of it.
I guess “Tree-punk, a post-apocalyptic world where nature won, and what remains of sentient life has to adapt. Water World meets Treasure Planet meets Attenborough’s Planet Earth but on psychedelics.”
Felix Isaacs’s spin on a more collaborative and story-driven ttrpg is a fresh take on the genre for those of us only familiar with the 5E system, and we will have many habits to unlearn to encompass what Felix Isaacs set out to accomplish truly. The Wildsea plays on the rule of cool but on overdrive. Much of the decision-making that 5E dictates is up to the DM, is in Wilds left open to the table, with the Firefly (Wildsea’s name for a GM) to make it cohesive. This task, I imagine, is surprisingly simpler than it sounds, as the agent that has caused the plant life to grow like crazy has turned the rest of the world crazy with it.
The Wildsea can probably conjure it if you can think of it.
March 15, 2023
I absolutely love this book! The writing and the art are great stuff and the rating would be five stars. But as it’s also a rulebook and I don’t like the rule system so very much I can only give three stars as for the book.
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April 7, 2025Zatím jsem nehrál, ale čtení mi udělalo radost, tak nějaké kusé myšlenky
Settings: Bezva evokativní a hlavně divnej "stromovej-punk". V krátkosti: Pár stovek let zpět nastala apokalypsa, masivně zmutovala a vyrostla fauna i flora a zbytky civilizace teď přežívají na vrcholcích hor a brázdí na lodích poháněných motorovými pilami moře tvořené korunami stromů. Oheň je největším tabu, většina přírody je velmi živá a dravá, pod korunami stromů je tma a propast a zamířit ke kořenům je bláznovství rovnající se cestě do podsvětí. Má to moc zajímavě vymyšlené druhy za které hrát - mimo jiné třeba za kaktusové humanoidy tesknící po poušti, druh nelítavých můr zdobící svá křídla a nebo kolonii pavouků v kabátě, co si vyrobila či "našla" kůži k obývání.
Témata: Kouká z toho primárně objevování fascinujícího a nebezpečného + zaměření na komunitu či rodinu. Hráči jsou posádkou jedné lodi, takže to má ten Firefly feel "skupina nepadnoucích individuí spojená lodí zažívá dobrodružství a nakonec zjistěj o sobě mnohem víc, než čekali".
Systém: Staví na Blades in the Dark od Johna Harpera, ale dělá pár vlastních designových zvláštností. Tohle konkrétně mě zaujalo nejvíc
- Postavy mají aspekty (=schopnosti, ale ne úplně. Může to být i jen "Jsi fakt velký kaktus" a nebo "Máš ochočenou světlušku"), které mají nějaký počet použití. Jejich používáním či třeba fasováním bídy v boji se jim postupně naplňují, tj. utržené zranění vede časem ke ztrátě aspektu té postavy. Nic jako životy ve Wildsea neexistuje.
- Setting má velkou spoustu jazyků (jazyky z dob před Zazeleněním, chemický jazyk jakým mluví houboví lidé, atd...) a má je jako schopnosti, hodně na ně hraje a znalost jazyka se rovnou dubluje jako schopnost "jak moc vědomostí máš o této kultuře a něčem, co je pro ni primární".
- Twisty - kdykoliv na kostkách padne dvakrát stejné číslo, děje se nějaký nečekaný zvrat, co ho může definovat kterýkoli z hráčů.
- Postavy mají své Mires (="Marnosti", např. "Tvé květy vadnou" "Stáváš se nemotorn��m a ztrácíš eleganci" "Lámou se pod tebou větve a dostáváš závrať"), které reprezentují nejistoty/fóbie/divoké tendence a přichází na řady, když je posádka dlouho mimo přístav a nebo konatelem či svědkem něčeho dostatečně temného či amorálního. Takže hráči mají trochu vedení, kterým směrem hrát reakce na dramatické události.
Celkově - hodně nápaditý setting (a překvapivě i čtivě napsaný), pravidel možná až příliš, ale to se bez zahrání beztak moc posoudit nedá. Určitě dávám do seznamu ttrpg na zahrání krátké kampaně.
Settings: Bezva evokativní a hlavně divnej "stromovej-punk". V krátkosti: Pár stovek let zpět nastala apokalypsa, masivně zmutovala a vyrostla fauna i flora a zbytky civilizace teď přežívají na vrcholcích hor a brázdí na lodích poháněných motorovými pilami moře tvořené korunami stromů. Oheň je největším tabu, většina přírody je velmi živá a dravá, pod korunami stromů je tma a propast a zamířit ke kořenům je bláznovství rovnající se cestě do podsvětí. Má to moc zajímavě vymyšlené druhy za které hrát - mimo jiné třeba za kaktusové humanoidy tesknící po poušti, druh nelítavých můr zdobící svá křídla a nebo kolonii pavouků v kabátě, co si vyrobila či "našla" kůži k obývání.
Témata: Kouká z toho primárně objevování fascinujícího a nebezpečného + zaměření na komunitu či rodinu. Hráči jsou posádkou jedné lodi, takže to má ten Firefly feel "skupina nepadnoucích individuí spojená lodí zažívá dobrodružství a nakonec zjistěj o sobě mnohem víc, než čekali".
Systém: Staví na Blades in the Dark od Johna Harpera, ale dělá pár vlastních designových zvláštností. Tohle konkrétně mě zaujalo nejvíc
- Postavy mají aspekty (=schopnosti, ale ne úplně. Může to být i jen "Jsi fakt velký kaktus" a nebo "Máš ochočenou světlušku"), které mají nějaký počet použití. Jejich používáním či třeba fasováním bídy v boji se jim postupně naplňují, tj. utržené zranění vede časem ke ztrátě aspektu té postavy. Nic jako životy ve Wildsea neexistuje.
- Setting má velkou spoustu jazyků (jazyky z dob před Zazeleněním, chemický jazyk jakým mluví houboví lidé, atd...) a má je jako schopnosti, hodně na ně hraje a znalost jazyka se rovnou dubluje jako schopnost "jak moc vědomostí máš o této kultuře a něčem, co je pro ni primární".
- Twisty - kdykoliv na kostkách padne dvakrát stejné číslo, děje se nějaký nečekaný zvrat, co ho může definovat kterýkoli z hráčů.
- Postavy mají své Mires (="Marnosti", např. "Tvé květy vadnou" "Stáváš se nemotorn��m a ztrácíš eleganci" "Lámou se pod tebou větve a dostáváš závrať"), které reprezentují nejistoty/fóbie/divoké tendence a přichází na řady, když je posádka dlouho mimo přístav a nebo konatelem či svědkem něčeho dostatečně temného či amorálního. Takže hráči mají trochu vedení, kterým směrem hrát reakce na dramatické události.
Celkově - hodně nápaditý setting (a překvapivě i čtivě napsaný), pravidel možná až příliš, ale to se bez zahrání beztak moc posoudit nedá. Určitě dávám do seznamu ttrpg na zahrání krátké kampaně.
Read
October 3, 2024Read the free edition, which is about half as much as the full book (a mere 155 pages lol), but I think enough to get a sense of things. These Blades in the Dark-style mechanics fundamentally aren't for me; I think they require too many steps/processes, and gameify stuff that's just easier to keep track of within the fiction itself. There are still some neat ideas in there though, the way languages have multiple levels, and how the character sheet treats your personality as something that has equal mechanical weight to your skills etc.
A lot of the attention on The Wildsea is focussed on the setting. And while it is fun (the world is an enormous apocalyptic jungle and you sail across the treetops in a chainsaw ship), and it's hard to be mad at something so clearly inspired by my good friend China Miéville, it nevertheless left me a bit cold. I think it's because it's sort of a flat setting? Like, the ports and inhabitants and monsters might be weird and wonderful etc, but no matter how far you sail, you're always going to find the same category of stuff. It turns out I like a setting with greater internal variety, one that contains more possibilities than just "this, in every direction".
A lot of the attention on The Wildsea is focussed on the setting. And while it is fun (the world is an enormous apocalyptic jungle and you sail across the treetops in a chainsaw ship), and it's hard to be mad at something so clearly inspired by my good friend China Miéville, it nevertheless left me a bit cold. I think it's because it's sort of a flat setting? Like, the ports and inhabitants and monsters might be weird and wonderful etc, but no matter how far you sail, you're always going to find the same category of stuff. It turns out I like a setting with greater internal variety, one that contains more possibilities than just "this, in every direction".
May 2, 2024
I'm looking forward to running this game soon. I wish there had been a bit more QC on the book though, there are a lot of silly errors that could've been picked up; Unfinished sentences left in the paragraph; "of" or "an" used when "on" and "at" were required. For a book with so many proofreaders it's weird that these slipped through as frequently as they did.
September 18, 2024
Tremendous world-building and sparse lore, in the best way. Stories burble forth from a detail about a ship's function, or merely an enemy's name. The game system is fun, maybe too flexible in some of its rules, meaning everyone can kind of do everything, but this book hides a story engine that I keep coming back to.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews