Sleeping Gods

I discovered this game in 2023 and was blown away (possibly helped by unexpectedly succeeding in my first campaign). It's a co-operative story-telling game (hence my initial interest), powered by a paragraph book (think choose-your-own-adventure) and a vast number of cards.

The set-up is that the players are the crew of a 1920s tramp steamer suddenly thrown into another world. To return, they are told, they must wake the sleeping Gods in the hope that they can send them back to their own world. Thus, the players quest across this strange world (or pages of the atlas), encountering bizarre (and mundane) creatures, making deals, acquiring resources (mmm, food!) and discovering that all is not what it seems…

The game has a quite detailed combat system (not all the natives are friendly… okay, make that not many of the natives are friendly!) that's almost a game in itself. Like a role-playing game, it's designed to be played in 2-3 hour sessions as players work their way through a campaign. One neat touch is that the results (card/s) of one encounter can affect how another encounter plays out.

There are a couple of expansions, Dungeons and Tides of Ruin to add more to the game and a sister game, Primeval Peril (designed for 1-2 players), set on a dangerous river along which the players must navigate their fishing boat to rescue one of their number. I also stock the game's sort-of sequel set in the same world: Distant Skies, where the players are the crew and passengers of a 1930s aircraft.

For 1-4 players, aged 13+, playing time 1-20 hours (to complete a whole campaign): £77.00 (£64.17 tax free outside the UK)
 

Out of stock

Sleeping Gods was designed by Ryan Laukat and is published by Red Raven

Find out more:
    Sleeping Gods at BoardGameGeek
    Pevans recounts his adventures in issue 238 of To Win Just Once

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Dungeons

This is dungeons in the D&D sense: underground complexes to explore, fight 'monsters and gain treasures. There are half a dozen of these scattered around the world of Sleeping Gods. When players come across one (or seek one out - the expansion gives the co-ordinates for all of them), they can resolve it using the standard paragraphs or break out this expansion for a mini-adventure.

The pack includes special items, maps, the paragraph book for the dungeons and some extra cards. They make  neat addition to the game.

For 1-4 players with the base game, aged 13+, playing time 1-20 hours (to complete a whole campaign): £13.00 (£10.83 tax free outside the UK)
 

In stock

Sleeping Gods: Dungeons was designed by Alex Davis and Ryan Laukat and is published by Red Raven

Find out more:
    Sleeping Gods: Dungeons at BoardGameGeek

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Tides of Ruin

It does what you'd expect from an expansion: adds more adventures, more enemies and more events. There's an atlas of the new lands (and seas) to explore, featuring two major cities. And a new storybook that covers all of these. Just the thing if you want to boldly go further around this fantasy world.

For 1-4 players with the base game, aged 13+, playing time 1-20 hours (to complete a whole campaign): £36.00 (£30.00 tax free outside the UK)
 

In stock

Sleeping Gods: Tides of Ruin was designed by Ryan Laukat and is published by Red Raven

Find out more:
    Sleeping Gods: Tides of Ruin at BoardGameGeek

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