Sea of Thieves is a blast—enough to make me put up with the awful Xbox app on Windows 10, which should tell you something—and soon it will make the move from the digital world to the physical one in the Sea of Thieves Roleplaying Game being developed by Mongoose Publishing
The description on the Mongoose website will no doubt sound very familiar to Sea of Thieves veterans: Players will "race other pirates to buried treasure, fight Skeleton Captains on tropical islands, tackle Voyages for the Gold Hoarders, Order of Souls and Merchant Alliance, and brave Megalodons and Krakens as they rise up from the depths to thwart your enterprises. The rules are designed for quick, immersive roleplaying that favours action, problem-solving and above all, fun!" it says.
"Cracking open the box set, you will be playing in minutes with a voyage designed to teach both Gamesmaster and new pirates the rules as they enter the Sea of Thieves for the first time and encounter the challenges to be found there. Once this voyage is complete, the pirates will have their own ship and be free to set sail and discover new adventures."
That's actually a pretty spot-on description for the Sea of Thieves videogame, which forgoes complex simulations and mechanics for immediately accessible action: Grab a quest, get on your boat, hit the high seas, and wait for something to go spectacularly sideways. (Because it will.) It works online, and it's a smart approach to take for the tabletop.
A digital version of the RPG is available in PDF format for £30 ($38) but for my money, the £60 ($76) box set is where it's at. That gets you:
- Book of Pirates: Your introduction to the Sea of Thieves, with a complete Voyage that will teach you everything you need to know about pirating.
- Lore of the Sea: A nice weighty tome that shows Gamesmasters how to run games and create Voyages, and what treasures and terrors await pirates on the Sea of Thieves.
- Book of Voyages: A complete campaign for the Sea of Thieves that will have pirates questing for the Ashen Jewels
- The Sea of Thieves Poster Map: A giant map of the Sea of Thieves showing every island in the game.
- Pirate Ledgers: Six cards that show what your pirate is carrying and how close they are to becoming a Pirate Legend.
- Legendary Dice: Eighteen Legendary Dice that will mark you out as a Pirate Legend or scurvy landlubber!
- Supply Tokens, Weapons Cards and Quest Cards: Everything a pirate needs to sail a ship, fight enemies, and bring back huge hauls of treasure!
- Lord Guardian Sails: The box set edition contains an exclusive download code that will unlock the sails of a would-be pirate king in the Sea of Thieves video game.
It's not clear if the Lord Guardian sails are only for preorders of the boxed edition or if they're included with the PDF version as well: The website indicates it's for the physical version but this tweet just says "the game." I've reached out to ask, and will update when I receive a reply. Meantime, check out some images of the box set down below.
And the Lord Guardian sales for preordering:
