Fair Winds and Following Seas
A downloadable game
Sail the seas with your fellow crew, satisfy the whims and of the captain, and explore all your senses in this nautical adventure! Explore the Elephant Garden and the Geistfeld Key, or puzzle over why the Silvercoat Patrols hired your crew for this strange mission.
Fair Winds and Following Seas is a game for 2-6 players. In the game, you play the crew of a ship, hired to complete a task. Your employer, destination, and the details of the task are determined randomly, and play includes taking turns describing six sensory experiences for each trip, and sharing a sea shanty with the rest of the crew. A voyage takes about 30 minutes to play and requires no prep, and you can play multiple voyages at once if you have the desire and the time. Carry your ship and crew from mission to mission, with records of each characters' journey. The main game file includes print and play cards as well as tables to roll on if you are do not wish to print the document.
Fair Winds and Following Seas was originally written for the Big Bad Con 2018 Kickstarter campaign.
Each purchase of the game adds additional community copies for those that can't afford it on their own.
Purchase
In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $10 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Community Rewards
Support this game at or above a special price point to receive something exclusive.
Community Copies
Community Copies are available for anyone unable to purchase the game at full price. I hope you enjoy the piece and would greatly appreciate a rating or review once you have read or played the game!
Development log
- Corrections and UpdatesAug 02, 2021
Comments
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Hi! I've downloaded the game and can't wait to play it, but in all the files I can't find a "Shanty Deck". In the instructions there's multiple mentions of the deck, and there's a Shanty listed at the end of the instructions, but there isn't a Deck for it in the Print and Play Card file! Either it's missing from the card file, or the instructions haven't been changed to reflect there no longer being a deck. Though I would prefer there to be a deck, of course.
You are very right! Missed that. I'll get it fixed someone this weekend, along with some other copy editing. Thanks!
Fair Winds And Following Seas is a seafaring game about the journey, more than the destination. It's 9 pages, color, with lovely and easy to read layout, and it put me in mind of the quiet moments in a game like Uncharted Waters or Sunless Sea.
Fair Winds feels like a journaling game, but it only is one in a sort of microcosmic way. You don't write out whole entries, just quick lines at the end of a journey---and as kind of a standout, you're expected to play it with multiple people, even though it's also viable solo.
Winds has some worker placement elements as well, although they're soft, with different crew members taking watches during a trip. There's also some event prompts that lean towards adventure---although there's nothing they can do mechanically to threaten the ship.
The overall feeling is really chill and grounded, and that's not a bad thing at all. I'd honestly consider running it back to back with The Land Whispers for a chill games block. Both games are good for online play, and the kind of calm they both bring might be an actual blessing right now.
I'd recommend Fair Winds to anyone who likes stories about sailing, but doesn't require them to be crunchy and high conflict. This is a game about time spent on the waves, and the feeling of reaching port, and the need to journey out again.
It's a good one.