Posted May 08, 2025 by hezitant
#solorpg #horror #journal #journaling #solo #nautical
Tides of Madness v1.6 is now live.
This is the most significant update since launch. The bones of the voyage are unchanged (three phases a day, conditions to manage, omens to read) but the Captain, Crew, and Ship have been rewritten from the keel up.
Every role now carries six traits, built to echo, contradict, or collapse under pressure:
The Captain balances Virtue and Shadow
The Crew hides Faultlines beneath Beliefs
The Ship speaks its Self-Name, if you listen
Old d6 tables have been replaced with 2d6 prompts that dig deeper and haunt longer. These aren’t just flavor, they’re the logbook in waiting. Each one wants to be written.
There’s also:
A new Self-Name table for your ship (some names should not be said aloud)
Renamed traits across the board (Strengths → Virtues, Burdens → Shadows, etc.)
All terminology and layout cleaned up to match the current tone of the game
Trait order aligned between the rules and the playsheet
No new mechanics. Just more space to unravel.
If you’ve played a previous version, you don’t need to learn anything new. You’ll notice:
The logbook entries come faster
The crew feels more alive (or worse)
The ship makes more decisions than it used to
And if you haven’t played yet, you're in for a treat.
I’m heading into Kickstarter prep. v1.6 is the foundation for the printed release. This will include:
A full-color player-facing map
Revised and illustrated playsheet
Possibly a companion logbook or sea-worn journal
The rulebook itself will stay lean, haunted, and mostly free. That’s the whole point.
I’d love to hear from you.
[Submit a log entry or report strange sightings here]
Or just email me: hezitantgames@gmail.com
Until then, keep the lamp lit, don’t say your name twice, and if the ship sings back… write it down.
—Carl / Hezitant