So much of The Vrahode Game System is card-driven. We have multiple decks of cards for different purposes like Overland Exploration, Underland Exploration, and Ocean Exploration.
The Ocean Exploration Deck is the 50-card deck that describes the events you encounter on board a ship as you navigate the seas. Unlike the Overland Exploration Deck, which requires each hero in play to draw a card for each region entered, the Ocean Exploration Deck requires that the “ship” draw a card for every other region entered. This is because ships travel faster than parties do on foot, and more importantly, because it feels right when playing.
Join the Adventure
Five Modes Of Gameplay
Ocean Exploration is one of five main modes of gameplay:
- Overland Exploration
- Overland Rest
- Underland Exploration
- Underland Rest
- Ocean Exploration
When you travel throughout the Overland, your party – regardless of the number of heroes in it – are represented by a banner miniature. That way, you don’t have to move each individual hero through each land region.
When you enter a coastal region with the intent to set sail, then a lovely ship will whisk you away to wherever you wish to go in Vrahode. The banner miniature will then fit right into the ship and actually become its sail! Then it’s time to experience what the Ocean Exploration Deck has in store.
The Mathematics Behind Ocean Exploration
Much like with Overland Exploration, several things can happen when you draw a card from the Ocean Exploration Deck.
- Safe travel
- An enemy encounter
- Finding an item
- Playing out flavor text
- A weather event
What this means is that there is a very good chance of an uneventful journey as you navigate the oceans of Vrahode. The worrisome part of this deck is that, while ocean travel tends to be much safer than Overland travel, when things go wrong at sea they tend to go very wrong!
In the Overlands and Underlands, difficulty scales based on the number of people in your party. At sea, since the ship is technically drawing the card, we have to, in order to ensure a fun challenge, make the enemies a threat to that entire vessel!
Fear not – we keep the idea of difficulty scaling, but implement it in a different way. We give smaller parties the aid of the ship’s crew to fend off the big threats that arise from the waves. If things get bad enough, even Captain Tentori will step in to make sure the Lady Virtue can get you to where your party wishes to go!
When You’re Not Under Attack, The Oceans Are Peaceful
The nice thing about travel at sea is that as long as the ship is not under threat, passengers can be assured of a restful journey. That is part of the cost of your ticket (one inventory item per hero)! Since heroes are offered their own hammocks below deck and there is an entire crew toiling to protect the ship, each time a safe travel card is drawn from the Ocean Exploration Deck, each hero gains the same benefits as on land (+1 life, +2 ruhl, -2 fatigue)!
This mode of play is a great way to get around, see new sights, and get to where you are going. Though not without its risks, we think you will enjoy this mode of play which again adds another facet of play to the dynamic world of Vrahode.