It took me some time to sit down and write this post. Here, I want to talk about some clarifications that couldn't fit the narrow space of an 8-page zine. Design decisions will follow in an upcoming post.

Clarifications

Moving through the hold

This space calls for a different approach concerning the player’s movement. In this setting, you won’t have rooms connected to each other, but a bunch of disconnected rooms (the boxes) surrounded by empty spaces between them (corridors).

You can move freely through these corridors. For example, your mouse can move between rooms A and B following the path below (in red) and taking 1 Turn in the process. Take into account that going between Empty spaces (cards from 2 to 5) may entail danger.

But, how to enter the rooms/boxes? Sometimes the entry is specified in the room’s description, but sometimes it isn’t. Just use common sense or ask your oracle about where and how many entrances a box has.

When the crates slide

Although explained in the zine, I thought a more extended example would be great. In this setting, encounters #4 and #5 aren’t creatures but an event in which the ship rolls or pitches making the crates slide.

The side which they’ll slide to is determined by a d4 roll—I suggest using the same method as the connections roll: 1 is up, 2 is right, 3 is down, and 4 is left.

On how to slide the cards, first imagine that the Empty ones (the cards from 2 to 5, which are faced-up by default in this setting) aren’t there. Then you can follow the logic of physics to slide the cards/boxes to one side and rearrange the Empty ones accordingly. Here you have the same example as the zine’s but animated.

Important: in this example, all the boxes are faced down, but they’ll slide exactly the same if faced up.

The water level

The hold’s water level can change during the game and may affect the cat or the octopus. Just keep in mind that it only has two levels: ankle level or chest level. The adventure starts with the water at ankle level.

Engaging with the room’s content

A major change regarding the general rules is how and when to engage with the boxes’ content. It is implied by the setting but explicit in some of the boxes’ explanations that you must face the trials inside them, sometimes as you snoop in.

The reason why your mouse is in this cargo hold is the search for something or someone as stated in the back cover of the zine. If you could dismiss the traps and obstacles inside the rooms (as you normally could with the core rules), you’d just reveal cards until they reach 50+, when you find your objective. Thus, it is implied that your mouse enters each box looking for their objective.

You can treat the Empty cards as usual, not engaging with them if you can (by hiding, sneaking, running away…)